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Beach party in Arvada attempts to break world record

Sand in the City coach Bert Adams carves the coach's sculpture.

Caitlin Danborn

Remax's sand sculpture had a Cat In the Hat theme, complete with colored sand.

Caitlin Danborn

Volunteers Sarah Leopold and Molly Cheer tally participants for the world's largest hula dance record attempt.

Caitlin Danborn

Arvada Mayor Marc Williams, clad in Hawaiian clothing, addresses the crowd at Sand in the City.

Caitlin Danborn

Sand in the City participants attempt to break the record for the world's largest hula.

Caitlin Danborn

Posted
Monday, June 25, 2018 10:37 am

​Caitlin Danborn
Special to Colorado Community Media

Thousands of Arvadans flocked to the parking lot of Arvada West High School for a weekend of food, fun and sand castles this weekend at the annual Sand in the City event. With more than 100 vendors ranging from local food trucks and breweries to local businesses as well as sand sculptures created by Arvada businesses, the main attraction was the world record attempt.

Sand in the City attempted to host the world's largest hula dance, a record currently held by Miyokojima City in Japan with 1,509 participants. Per the requirements of Guinness World Records, participants donned Hawaiian-themed clothing during the five minute dance. A drone flew overhead, capturing footage that will be used by Guinness to count the participants along with the tallies from volunteers at the event. Only participants over the age of 10 were counted.

“It's typical Arvada, where everybody comes out and supports everybody,” said Arvada Mayor Marc Williams in a speech to the record-attempting crowd.

The final count will be determined by Guinness, which will announce whether Arvada did indeed break the record in 10-12 weeks.

Besides the world record attempt, the usual sand sculptures drew Arvada businesses and organizations to participate in the sculpture contest.

“The reason we chose this sculpture is because obviously it goes along with our mission and helping people being able to find their emotions, express their emotions,” said Melissa Strohfus, whose team from the Jefferson Center for Mental Health created a sculpture based on the Disney-Pixar movie Inside Out. Jefferson Center's sculpture won second place from the judges.

Each team was supervised by an official Sand in the City coach. The coaches, who come from all across the nation, arrived on Thursday to set up the sand and spent Friday assisting various teams.

“We help them, make sure they're pounding things up right and give them techniques as they're carving to make sure they end up with a nice sculpture,” said Kevin Schluckebier, a Sand in the City coach from Omaha, Nebraska.